Even if you don’t like the thought of sisig, I think you might still try and like these empanadas. :) OMG is right! Why didn’t anyone else think of this sooner, or are these out there and I just haven’t come across them? The incredibly rich lechon sisig has the depth of flavor from the slow roasting, then to that add some chilies and spices and you have a flavor packed filing for an empanada. This was the FIRST batch of savory empanada experiments at our home, and the results were pretty darned good…

This attempt was to try and make a “healthier” empanada, baked rather than fried. It’s rather labor intensive to roll out the individual pieces of dough, but once you get the hang of it, think of it as mindless exercise. It was a hot day and I had to take care not to drip any sweat on the dough that would inadvertently add salt to the mixture… :)

We brushed the baking pans with some vegetable oil, then brushed the top of the uncooked empanadas with a little more oil and stuck them in a hot oven for some 20 minutes or so until just lightly golden. The resulting empanadas seemed promising, and there wasn’t as much of a greasy look and feel to the crust. The crust was almost crisp, and the mouthfeel was definitely not greasy at all. I brought a bunch of them to a board meeting and they were all wiped out, so I wasn’t the only one who thought this worked out pretty well…

A few extra uncooked empanadas were thrown into the freezer to see how they would hold up to baking or frying the next day. We let the frozen half disks thaw for 15 minutes before frying them in hot oil. The condensation on the dough resulted in Zubuchon like blistered skin. Not terribly attractive but we are working on cosmetics!

The fried ones didn’t look as good as the baked ones…

…but they sure tasted good, even after a day in the freezer! Will have to fool around with this recipe a lot more to get the ideal Lechon Sisig Empanadas, but you get the drift…

Yes, MM..it is a pain in the you know where to roll out the dough…so here is my next best option which makes it a breeze to roll as many as you want without your kili-kili complaining…use a pasta maker. I have a table top model. Portion your dough and roll into a log and cut into pieces. Then just put each piece into the roller and roll away…

Happy Rolling!

Apr 14, 2010 | 11:22 am

Teresa
says:

betty q, your suggestion is a must try. Kitchen, your mention of vinegar is now making me crave for Ilocos empanada!!

Apr 14, 2010 | 11:30 am

zena
says:

MM, we have baked our empanadas for years now. We don’t brush it with oil. Just prick the top with fork tines then when halfway done, we brush it with a beaten egg mixed with milk to give it a more golden color. Our recipe comes out crisp and definitely non-greasy. I sooo much prefer to to the fried ones.

Hi MM, have you considered using a tortilla press instead of rolling the dough? My recipe uses a butter based dough and we cut off pieces and throw it into the press. So easy! In the states you can find them in Chinatown or Hispanic grocery stores. Your empanadas look delicious!

Apr 14, 2010 | 11:38 am

millet
says:

i suppose the dough was made with lard? :-)
zena, we make our empanadas the same way, brushed with eggwash then baked. when my kids were in grade school and were tired of rice and ulam or sandwiches for lunch, i made them big empanadas with different fillings. the empanadas saved me for the rest of the year!

Millet, Zena: next time you make leche flan,save the eggwhites and freeze. Then use the whites instead of eggwash to brush on empanadas before baking. Just beat the whites lightly with a fork first and then brush away. It gives the surface a nice sheen without being too yellow-y. This is what I use to brush on the surface of my apple pies.

Apr 14, 2010 | 12:45 pm

GayeN
says:

Yum! One of my aunts used to make fried empanadas that are flaky but not greasy. Sigh! I miss those…

great idea..sisig empanada, I’ll try this next time I make sisig, I recently learned how to make homemade empanada.. I’ll try baking it too next time. Thanks..your empanada looks really delicious :)

Apr 14, 2010 | 1:51 pm

joyce
says:

OMG. what an inspired idea! i loovee ilocos empanadas and these seem to be match made in piggy heaven as well.

Apr 14, 2010 | 1:54 pm

Bubut
says:

the fried one also looks good…

Apr 14, 2010 | 3:13 pm

Joey in Dubai
says:

DROOOOOOLICIOUS………

Apr 14, 2010 | 3:52 pm

Cris Jose
says:

Hi, MM! How about trying puff pastry for the crust?

Apr 14, 2010 | 4:22 pm

Lava Bien
says:

Empanadas were my comfort food when I was in South America, beef , tuna, chicken and they deliver, kinda like inthe Philippines. My daughgter laughs when I tell her that McDonald’s deliver, or KFC hhehehehe. It is unbelievable for kids here in the states.

Apr 14, 2010 | 7:06 pm

Footloose
says:

Crossing the border between Brazil and any of its neighbors (this means the rest of South America except Chile and Ecuador) can be linguistically disorienting. A swath of innocent words in Spanish all of a sudden take on ribald connotation when used in Portuguese. Lots of common words switch meanings. The common PorteÃ±o and Montevideano food empanada becomes pastel as you cross into Brazil and vice versa. Since the Brazilian pastel is always fried, they distinguish the baked ones with the modifier â€œasadoâ€ and if this last one happened to be baked in a wood-fired oven such as in most rural areas of Brazil, the experience can be quite revelatory and transporting. They are usually served in pizza parlours so I suspect they all use the same dough as for pizza. Anyway, as an ex-owner of an empanada shop, I canâ€™t detect a noticeable difference between their crust for fried and for baked empanada. Oh, and they invariably use lard, come hell or high water, as the shortening of choice.

In Buenos Aires beggars ask you for change for an empanada, a common, ordinary, weekday food whereas our empanada is an occasional special treat. Thatâ€™s probably why whether fried or baked, our crust is usually discretely layered, tender and flyingly flaky if not intimidatingly labour intensive.

Apr 14, 2010 | 7:20 pm

millet
says:

great tip, bettyq! many thanks! will try that next time i bake pies and empanada.

Hi Sam…glad you enjoyed the suman. I have been meaning to make some for my kapitbahays as well to eat with mangoes (it is mango season here as well!).

Here is afaster way to do it. If you can find a piping bag there…disposable or the regular one..use that to pipe the filling. You can make an assembly line and can finish a few hundred in no time at all. If you cannot find the piping bag, use a ziplock bag and cut the tip to your desired size of your suman.

Happy Piping! and while you are a it, make about 500 and freeze them after steaming…saves you a lot of time when your friends have a craving…just re-heat them again by steaming after defrosting.